RADCLIFFE bowled their way to a victory over Denton West second XI to move into the top four of the Greater Manchester Cricket League Division Three.

The nine-wicket victory was achieved after their hosts failed to set any kind of challenging target, with the wickets shared between five bowlers.

Jimmy Dixon took 4-31 with fellow seamer Paul Smith and spinner Chris Barlow collecting two apiece. Tom Orr snared opener Aaron Wood for a duck and Paul Fuller struck with his only delivery to end the Denton West innings on 69.

Captain and opening batsman Michael Farley was unbeaten on 43 as his side then eased to a nine-wicket win.

And Farley praised the performance of his bowling corps, who made it an easy afternoon for the batting line-up.

“We are confident we can bowl teams out and give ourselves not much to do with the bat,” he said. “We think we have one of the best bowling attacks in the league, that’s definitely our strength.

“Charlie Hamilton was our only batter to fall, he went to a very smart catch at short cover, he was gutted, but we got the six points so his Cheshire Cat grin soon came back.”

The win – their third in a row – kept the Homer Road side in the hunt for promotion but Farley refuses to allow any complacency to creep in.

“We have six games left and we feel promotion is achievable,” he said. “We still have Whalley Range and Elton Vale, teams above us, to play.

“We can’t take anyone lightly, we’ll try to be professional, go about our business the right way and focus on ourselves. If we do that everything else should take care of itself.”